here is a photo of our boy. his DNA test came back as 100% AST. he has been right around 55 lbs. since we got him, 3 years old. i know it is OK for ribs to be visible, but you can see all the knobs of his spine. is that normal? should we increase his food intake? he is currently getting 3.5 cups of grain-free kibble each day. i was giving him 4 cups but it didn't seem to be helping.

From that picture he doesn't look skinny. I like a trim animal with good muscle tone. I like myself to be also, but right now I'm a bit chunky from the long winter and eating out at work. My pit bulls are a bit chunky too, but we are all getting in shape now that its warming up!

Omg! If he had a white spot on his nose, and white toes he would be a spitting image of my Vi. The spine showing is more from the way he is laying than anything else. He doesn't look too skinny at all to me from that pic.

Mooresmajestic wrote:Omg! If he had a white spot on his nose, and white toes he would be a spitting image of my Vi. The spine showing is more from the way he is laying than anything else. He doesn't look too skinny at all to me from that pic.

it shows like that all the time, no matter what position he is in. i guess i should have mentioned that fact.

I go back and forth on my two and their size sometimes. You can't see ribs or spine on Valentino but he's very lean; Midge doesn't show ribs, but does show spine most of the time (although, she also has pretty much no hair on her topline at the moment). However, she also looks paunchy on her belly and has gained visibly since she came to us.

Val averages 50-55 pounds. Midge is shorter, and hovers around 41-42.

I've always kept my dogs leaner than most people think is "normal" but it's all too common for pets to be obese these days, so a dog at a normal weight is often viewed as too skinny.

Mooresmajestic wrote:Omg! If he had a white spot on his nose, and white toes he would be a spitting image of my Vi. The spine showing is more from the way he is laying than anything else. He doesn't look too skinny at all to me from that pic.

it shows like that all the time, no matter what position he is in. i guess i should have mentioned that fact.

So does Vi's. If I put her in a show stack you can't see it though. It's just because there isn't a layer of fat over it. All of my dogs have the same thing... I currently have Lucy spine digging into my hip bone. In dogs of correct weight, there will usually be a hint of spine and rib.

It's difficult to judge a dog's weight when they are laying down, especially in a photo. I don't think he looks too skinny from the photo though. I like my dogs on the thin side and strongly agree that most pets are overweight these days.